Learn how to set up a meeting
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Planning an English Business Meeting. Becky here. |
| John: Hi, I'm John. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to set up a meeting. The conversation takes place at an office. |
| John: It's between Linda and John Sullivan. |
| Becky: The speakers are co-workers, therefore, they will speak informal English. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Linda: Mrs. Smith wants to check the PR team's ongoing projects. Can we set up a meeting by Friday? |
| John Sullivan: Sure! |
| Linda: Does the team have any events that cannot be extended? |
| John Sullivan: Not this week. |
| Linda: Do you need time to get ready for the meeting? |
| John Sullivan: Yes, at least half a day. |
| Linda: Okay, so what about the day after tomorrow at ten a.m.? |
| John Sullivan: That sounds good. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one more time, slowly. |
| Linda: Mrs. Smith wants to check the PR team's ongoing projects. Can we set up a meeting by Friday? |
| John Sullivan: Sure! |
| Linda: Does the team have any events that cannot be extended? |
| John Sullivan: Not this week. |
| Linda: Do you need time to get ready for the meeting? |
| John Sullivan: Yes, at least half a day. |
| Linda: Okay, so what about the day after tomorrow at ten a.m.? |
| John Sullivan: That sounds good. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: In this dialogue, Linda wanted to set up a meeting. |
| John: There are always meetings to set up in American businesses! |
| Becky: For what kinds of reasons do these meetings happen? |
| John: Things like performance reviews. |
| Becky: Oh, to discuss company performance? |
| John: Also staff performance. If they’re for company or team performance reviews, they could be daily meetings. |
| Becky: I think it’d be unusual to have one-to-one meetings daily though. |
| John: Yeah, I think so too. |
| Becky: What about an employee who has a problem with something at work? Would that lead to a meeting too? |
| John: Maybe. The employee should speak to their manager first about any problems. |
| Becky: How about trade unions? |
| John: They exist in America, but membership is low, with only 11% of the US workforce belonging to one. |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| John: PR [natural native speed] |
| Becky: public relations - the image of a company |
| John: PR [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| John: PR [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next, we have... |
| John: ongoing [natural native speed] |
| Becky: continuing, not yet ended |
| John: ongoing [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| John: ongoing [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next, there’s... |
| John: to set up [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to prepare, to arrange |
| John: to set up [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| John: to set up [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next up is... |
| John: to be extended [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to be lengthened |
| John: to be extended [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| John: to be extended [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next, we have... |
| John: to get ready for [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to prepare for |
| John: to get ready for[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| John: to get ready for [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Then, there’s... |
| John: at least [natural native speed] |
| Becky: the minimum amount |
| John: at least [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| John: at least [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And lastly... |
| John: to sound [natural native speed] |
| Becky: used to talk about your opinion or impression |
| John: to sound [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| John: to sound [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| John: PR team |
| Becky: ...meaning "the group of people that manages a company’s image." |
| Becky: First, is an acronym. What do the letters “PR” stand for? |
| John: “Public relations.” |
| Becky: And a “team” is a group of people, usually a group working towards a common goal. |
| John: So the “PR team” refers to the people responsible for the company image, and its relations with its customers. |
| Becky: You can use this pattern to talk about other groups in a company. |
| John: Right, such as a “sales team” or “marketing team.” |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| John: Sure. For example, you can say “The PR team arranged several interviews to promote the new movie.” |
| Becky: ...which is like saying "The people responsible for the company’s image arranged several interviews to promote the new movie" |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next word? |
| John: ongoing |
| Becky: ...meaning "continuing, not yet ended." |
| Becky: This word is an adjective. |
| John: It can be used to describe things that are continuing. |
| Becky: So, if you have some work that you are doing and it isn’t yet finished... |
| John: ...you can say that it is “ongoing.” |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| John: Sure. For example, you can say “The investigation is ongoing.” |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next word? |
| John: meeting |
| Becky: ...meaning "a planned time when people discuss things." |
| Becky: This is a noun. |
| John: It’s used to refer to anytime when people come together to discuss things. |
| Becky: Yes, it doesn’t matter if it’s planned several days in advance or just a few minutes before. |
| John: It’s used a lot in the business world. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| John: Sure. For example, you can say “We have a meeting every day at ten a.m.” |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn about how to set up a meeting. Let’s start at the beginning of setting up a meeting. If we’re going to have a meeting, we need a space to hold it! |
| John: Yes, if it’s an informal meeting this isn’t so important, but for formal meetings you need a room. |
| Becky: Let’s hear some sentence patterns that we can use to ask about rooms. |
| John: You can say “Is the meeting room free…” or “Is the meeting room available…” |
| Becky: And then say the date or time that you want to use it. |
| John: Remember, when talking about days, we use the preposition “on” - “on Monday.” |
| Becky: For times, we use a different preposition. |
| John: Yes, we use “at” - “at three o’clock.” |
| Becky: Let’s hear all of that together in a sentence. |
| John: “Is the meeting room free on Tuesday at four p.m.?” |
| Becky: Now we have a room, we need to ask people if they can attend. |
| John: We can use the same sentence patterns, only change “meeting room” to “you” or a name. |
| Becky: We also need to change the “be” verb from “is” to “are” if you are using “you.” |
| John: Right. “Are you free on Wednesday afternoon?” |
| Becky: Sometimes you don’t have a set time, or the time you decided on doesn’t work. So, you have to ask about time. You can ask your co-workers with phrases like these. |
| John: “When are you available?” |
| Becky: “What time is good for you?” If the time they give you isn’t good for you, you can say... |
| John: “I’m busy then” or “I’ll be out of the office.” |
| Becky: If the time is good, then you can say something simple. |
| John: Yeah, just a “That’s fine” or “That works for me too.” |
| Becky: It might take a bit of talking to find a time and day that works for everyone. |
| John: You can keep using the same sentence patterns, though, until you find something that works. |
| Becky: Yes, you can! |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| John: See you! |
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